Connecticut lawmakers recommend additional restrictions on guns

Republican State Representative Dan Carter, far right, and Democratic State Senator Martin Looney, far left, listen to Republican State Representative Craig Miner gives his presentation of consensus proposals from Republican legislators on the Gun Violence Prevention Working Group at the State Capitol's Legislative Office Building March 5, 2013. Looney and Carter are co-chairmen with Looney of the
Gun Violence Prevention Working Group. Photo by Peter Hvizdak / New Haven Register

Republican State Representative Dan Carter, far right, listens to Democratic State Senator Martin Looney, far left, as Looney gives his presentation of consensus proposals from Democratic legislators on the Gun Violence Prevention Working Group at the State Capitol's Legislative Office Building March 5, 2013. Republican State Representative Craig Miner , center, is co-chairman with Looney of the
Gun Violence Prevention Working Group. Photo by Peter Hvizdak / New Haven Register

HARTFORD -- There is some consensus between Democrats and Republicans on how to reduce gun violence, particularly concerning universal background checks, but a wide gap remains on an expanded assault weapon ban, limiting magazine sizes, suitability questions and permitting details.

Many of the items approved by Democrats reflected the agenda set by Gov. Dannel P. Malloy.

There also was disagreement on what the process should be going forward, with state Senate Majority Leader Martin M. Looney, D-New Haven, hoping for a bill that incorporates items from the gun violence reduction subcommittee, with recommendations from two other subcommittees dealing with mental health initiatives and school safety, "as soon as possible."

The discussion Tuesday referred to the findings of the Bipartisan Task Force on Gun Violence Prevention and Child Safety, a 48-member committee that was put together in January in response to the murder of 20 first-graders and six educators at Sandy Hook Elementary School Dec. 14 in Newtown.

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On opposition to expanding the assault weapon ban, state Rep. Craig Miner, R-Litchfield, co-chairman of the gun subcommittee, said the Republicans "believe that it's not the gun that actually kills the person, it's the person who kills the person. That is No. 1. That sounds pretty cold, but that's kind of the way it is."

A letter Looney and Senate President Pro Tem Donald Williams, D-Brooklyn, recently sent to GOP leadership and to House Speaker Brendan Sharkey, D-Hamden, referred to a bill being ready March 13.

It is up to Sharkey and Williams to sign off on an emergency certified bill that the leadership in both parties will now put together, with Sharkey pledging to only include consensus items from the task force. Looney's definition of bipartisan is broader and said it only needs the support of some members from each party backing a bill.

Several Republican members said there should be more vetting before a bill is presented to lawmakers, with additional work at the subcommittee level.

The two other subcommittees specifically listed their consensus items.

Looney and Miner, the co-chairmen of the gun study group, said the lack of agreement on some major items was apparent last week. Looney said a consensus list was not made because of the degree of "polarity" between the two sides on guns, something that reflects the division in the state and across the country.

"In that sense, the body of issues we had to deal with were somewhat more contentious and less likely to be readily resolvable at this stage," Looney said.

Both leaders actually expressed surprised at the degree to which there was overlap in what the political parties want to see.

Looney said he was pleased that both sides want more permitting for long guns, controls on sale of ammunition for those who can't legally own a gun, and a gun offender registry list.

"We have had significant movement on issues that, at first blush, I think both felt may not have been reconcilable," Miner said. He added, however, that it "doesn't make any sense to me" that they wouldn't go further, either through the committee process or through the task force, if they had more time.

Miner said to come up with any list on gun changes would usually take years to develop. "We are recommending that they change in a matter of weeks. So, I think we have come a long way."

Miner said he has talked to people on both sides of the aisle, and the division is "not a matter of what stripe you wear." He said it is often tied to geography and where in the state one lives.

Looney said that in his 30 years in the legislature, the interest in the subject of guns is "unprecedented ... the heightened interest is quantitatively new."

The National Shooting Sports Foundation, the trade association for the firearms and ammunition industry, issued a statement again reminding lawmakers of its "sizeable economic presence and workforce in the Constitution state," and expressed disappointment that there was no definitive bipartisan plan "to prevent future violence that involve the criminal misuse of firearms."

Like Miner, the NSSF said the focus should be on keeping firearms "out of the wrong hands."

The national group said "an outright ban of the most popular semiautomatic rifle in the United States today, as some are suggesting, for what are essentially cosmetic reasons would make no one safer" and is unfair to legitimate owners.

The Democratic list would expand the assault weapons ban by reducing to one feature, rather than two characteristics for a firearm with the capacity for an attachable magazine. It would ban the sale and importation of these weapons, but continue to allow their manufacture. As of January 2014, owners of assault weapons would have to seek a certificate of possession from the Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection.

The NSSF said this "holds the real prospective of affecting employment in our state because underlying issues go deeper than whether manufacturing exemptions would be issued."

The Democrats' list, in addition to expanding the definition of an assault weapon, would limit magazine capacity to 10 bullets, with possession of larger magazines dispossessed of by Oct. 1; require a permit to buy a rifle or shotgun for individuals aged 18 and older, with the same application process as is now required for pistols and revolvers; require universal background checks for all firearms, including private sales; require a firearm permit to buy ammunition; and establish a gun offender registry.

The Democrats also want to strengthen laws against trafficking and straw purchasers by increasing minimum fines to $10,000 and raising the felony class from D to C; prohibit individuals from buying more than one pistol or revolver within a 30-day period; expand safe storage in any household where there is a resident prohibited from buying a gun or where there is someone who poses a threat to themselves and others; increase the involuntary commitment lookback period from 12 months to five years; eliminate eligibility certificates for pistols and revolvers; prohibit carrying firearms into a private residence or house of worship without permission; and ban guns in licensed day care centers, among other items.

The Republican list included universal background checks; requiring an eligibility certificate or pistol permit in order to buy a long gun, with the eligibility certificate having a photo, fingerprinting, background check and completion of a safety course; increasing the purchase age to 21 for long guns that can accept a high-capacity magazine greater than 10 bullets; requiring a pistol permit, hunting license or eligibility certificate to purchase any ammunition; requiring buyers of long guns and ammunition over the Internet to provide evidence the buyer is eligible to do so.

Democrats want to look at reconstituting or eliminating the Board of Firearms Examiners, while Republicans would appoint a member with a mental health professional background.

On mental health, the Republicans would deny a permit to those involuntarily committed, from the present 30 days to one to five years, and add a minimum 30-day delay for those who voluntarily enter a psychiatric facility. They want firearms stored safely if there is a person in the household who is "mentally defective," has a restraining order, gun forfeiture order or is a convicted felon; establishment of a gun offender registry; and requiring a permit for a gun show from an elected official and local police chief. They do not want any early release for those convicted of a gun crime.

Republicans would ban sale of armor piercing and incendiary bullets; reconstitute the statewide firearms trafficking task force and provide $1 million in funding; increase penalties for firearms trafficking similar to the fines and felony status recommended by the Democrats.

Correction: State Rep. Craig Miner was misidentified as State Rep. Craig Minor in an earlier version of this story.